Human error, the leading cause of IT security breaches…

According to a report carried out by Symantec, individual error was the reason for over a third of all data breaches that were reported in 2011. Hord Tipton at ISC2 goes further than this to suggest that you “can’t find any breach that, somewhere in the kill chain, did not involve human error, negligence, or just bad judgement” – It goes to show that in order to maintain security within your organisation, you have to encompass people and processes, not just technology!

When you also bear in mind the high potential cost of a security breach to an organisation – be it in the form of reputation or revenue – it is imperative that all necessary policies, procedures and training are correctly implemented to reduce the likelihood of breaches occurring! Author, Paul Kearney tackles these issues in his Pocket Guide – Security: The Human Factor. By discussing the challenges associated with information security, the consequences of failing to meet them and – most importantly – at the steps organisations can take to make themselves and their information more secure.

Bottom line…Humans are the weakest link in any system!! I am sure Google would testify to this, with the recent printing error dropping their market value back down below that of Microsoft, which it had only overtaken earlier this month! (you can read the full article here – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19995730 )